Is Late-Night TV Turning Toward YouTube?

Late night TV has been at the center of industry conversation this year, with Jimmy Kimmel’s short-term suspension and the cancellation of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

But throughout all of the noise, it’s apparent that late-night TV has changed considerably, helping drive it toward a social-first approach.

With YouTube viewership on television continuing to grow, late night shows have seen an audience surge on the platform, as audiences gravitate towards on-demand monologues and viral segments they can consume and share on their own time (instead of staying up late to catch live).

Tubular Labs data reveals that since the start of 2025, late-night broadcast shows like SNL, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show, Late Night and The Tonight Show have combined for over 17 billion views across social video platforms – with 56 different videos earning at least 25 million views.

The online popularity would seem to suggest a counter-narrative to their supposed decline. Rather than declining in terms of cultural import, they’re largely pivoting to timely consumption on social video platforms (while still maintaining considerable ad reach on TV, too).

Of the most-watched social videos from these shows, several were uploaded in October – including this Jimmy Fallon clip that was just two days old at the time of this writing, but had 51.6 million views on TikTok already.

SNL, despite critical questions of relevance over the last decade as streaming comedy on both Netflix and social video grows, accounts for 14 videos of 25 million-plus views on its own. That includes the top late-night video of the year: A skit featuring Pete Davidson and Timothée Chalamet with over 63 million TikTok views.

These videos have massive reach, and even better opportunities for audience targeting than traditional TV. And networks are starting to understand as much given the social focus for these shows.

When Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to the air in September, much was made about the show’s TV ratings. Yet, as YouTube itself pointed out in the immediate aftermath, the bigger number was actually around Kimmel’s return monologue video on the platform. That clip generated 22.7 million views, and is Kimmel’s most-seen video of 2025.

While the shows do still make millions of dollars for TV networks, there may be a point where the reach and targeting capabilities that social media provides could make them more viable moneymakers as digital properties; perhaps mimicking the shift we’ve already seen for these media companies in general as they all effort to become streaming-first.